How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked By Police, Part Two

The other day, we offered you some helpful information, in the form of a comedy routine, about how not to get your ass kicked by police. In our continuing series, here now is part two.

By now, just about everyone has seen the first video of 20-year-old Emily Weinman of Philadelphia where she gets pummeled by a Wildwood police officer. And as many of our listeners immediately pointed out, that very short cell phone video likely did not tell the entire story.

Last night, we got the other side of the story when officials released body cam footage from the officer's perspective. In that video, we get to see the entire event unfold where Weinman eventually pushes the officer, which results in her being tackled to the ground.

The purpose of this blog is to not debate Weinman's actions -- or, for that matter, the actions of the officer. The purpose of this blog is to help you not get your ass kicked by police.

Before Weinman gets a face-full of sand and even before she pushes the officer, the video clearly depicts the officer saying, "you're about to get dropped."

Ah ha! Clue number one that something bad is about to happen.

Realize this: the men and women who serve as police officers have dedicated their lives to their occupation. It is not an easy job to achieve -- people have to go through months and months of boot camp-style training in order to be a police officer. Those people are highly trained in self defense and they will protect themselves at even the slightest threat.

If an officer flat-out tells you, "you're about to get dropped," perhaps that is a good time to take a deep breath and ratchet-down your attitude a bit.

Again, the purpose of this blog is to not debate Weinman's actions or the officer's -- but when a trained, armed police officer who can have many other trained, armed officers at his side at a moment's notice tells you that you are about to have a bad day, that officer means it.

In another blog that we posted following this arrest, Mark Denbeaux, a professor at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, said, "Everybody should understand that basically they're powerless if police determine that whatever they've done warrants an arrest, and then they have to cooperate and go along."

In other words, whether you like it or not, you're not going to win an argument with an officer at that point and you certainly will lose a physical fight.

If you're curious about what you should do during an encounter with law enforcement, common sense applies. According to the ACLU of NJ, you should remain calm, don't touch an officer, and don't resist. You can check out their website for more information.